Pirates of the f1.8

[Groucho]

I did a little checking and it sounds like the common opinion on the Sigma 30mm F1.4 is that it is extremely sharp right in the middle but gets worse as you get to the edges. Some like this as it gives it a somewhat unique look, some want sharpness across the whole lens.

I think I'm going to keep saving up for the Pentax 31mm F1.8 but if I find a good deal in the meantime that may change... just a few days ago, I just missed a used Sigma 24mm F1.8 for a good price.

Too bad only the OEMs and Sigma seem interested in fast wide-angle primes. It'd be nice to see some competition from Tamron, Tokina, etc.

 

[Gdad]

I think I am going to just keep saving for the Nikon 85/1.4

 

[Code]

I did a little checking and it sounds like the common opinion on the Sigma 30mm F1.4 is that it is extremely sharp right in the middle but gets worse as you get to the edges.

I haven't really noticed this but that could have something to do with the 4/3rds crop factor.

 

[Groucho]

I was reading the reviews at Photozone. They reviewed both the Canon-mount and Pentax-mount versions and as expected, came to basically the same conclusion on both (since they're the same lens, just different mount).

I'll quote the Pentax review.

The Sigma AF 30mm f/1.4 EX DC is a lens with a mission - to achieve the highest center resolution there is without caring too much about the rest. The border performance of the Sigma is soso at f/1.4 and only good beyond, the vignetting is high at large apertures and neither CAs nor distortions are overly impressive for a fix-focal length lens.

A quite strange design priority but there're applications for this. This is a pretty interesting lens if you want to isolate a (near-centered) object from the rest of the scene using an ultra-large aperture setting. The quality of the bokeh (out-of-focus blur) depends somewhat on the background/foreground structure - it can look "smeary" close to the image borders if the scene is a bit nervous. This is probably a side effect of the low resolution here. In coarse structured scenes the bokeh can be quite smooth and buttery though.

I think that this point, for me it's between the Pentax 35mm F2.0 and the Pentax 31mm F1.8 - preferably the latter as it's absolutely legendary but fairly pricey. Their new rebates will come out this week, we'll see what they say...

 

[miss missy]

Yes- I took quite a few of her. I agree the rest of the ride is tuff- especially with a 3yo who has a death grip on your right arm.

I have some, I wonder what I got now LOl (I am not home) these are before the changed tho.